Happy Homemaker Monday ~ Week 6

Hosted by Sandra at 'Diary of A Stay at Home Mom'

On my bedside table:
The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff - loving this book ! It's fascinating !

On my TV:
Nothing at all. It's 11:00 pm and as soon as I finish this I'm hittin' the hay !

On the menu for tonight:
Nothing. The kids and Rory had leftover falafel from last night. I had a black olive salad.

On my To Do List:

1. finish this post.
   
2. go to bed.

New Recipe I tried last week:
I tried all new recipes last week !!
My favorite one was Lemony Chicken and Israeli Couscous Deliciousness !

In the craft basket:
I've added two things to Ravelry !!! :)

I am still working on a little purse. I've made another dishcloth. I'll have to show it to you. Soon ... I did a little embroidery on it. I don't know how to embroider but I saw this little idea in a knitting book so tried it out. Loved it. Gonna do more.

Looking forward to:
MOVING INTO OUR NEW HOUSE !!!! not long now ..... the finance came through last week so it's all a go !!!

Homemaking Tip for this week:
Your broom will not appreciate you running over it with your car ! I speak from experience ...

Favorite Blog Post of the week (mine or other):
My talented friend Rachel, and her post on the amazing activity center she BUILT for her kids ! If you click on her photos they will get bigger ...

Favorite photo from last week:

Sashimi from my birthday lunch.

Lesson learned the past few days:

See homemaking tip ....

On my Prayer List:
My family

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Of Banana Bread, Dishcloths, and Angels ...

I have been one busy lady today and it's only noon !
This morning I woke to the sound of pouring rain and my husband still home !
It's his Saturday to work but he didn't have to because of the rain !!
Jono's soccer game was cancelled too.
Disappointing for Jono but it's timely for us to have a Saturday at home !
After enjoying a delicious breakfast of banana bread, baked by my amazing husband,
and various hot drinks*, Rory took the kids out shopping.
Don't know what they're shopping for but I'll give you a little hint ...
Monday is my birthday !!
While they've been out, I've been packing like a crazy lady !
Seriously.
Busy and Crazy.
All in one half a day !

~~

* Rory makes the kids little 'coffees' that are just frothed milk with chocolate on top ...
that is the drink you see in the photo !
Cute, eh ?
Have I mentioned lately that this man is amazing ?

~~

I've got to show you my quickie little project that I've whipped up in the past two days !
I think the next one I do will be quicker and can probably be done in one sitting.
I think this took me about 2 - 3 hours total.



It's a dishcloth.
Not that I'm going to use something so pretty on dishes !
It will probably hang somewhere near my sink in our new kitchen ...
but for decoration purposes only.
At least for now.
I'll probably start using them once I've made a few !



It is a really basic knitting pattern.
Great for a beginning knitter like myself.
Great because it's easy and great because I feel like a professional
being able to make holes around the edges like that !!
ha ha.

You can find the pattern on my Ravelry page.



Do you like my angel ?
Isn't she the prettiest thing ?
I just love her.
Not because she is pretty, although that is good too.
I love the memories she brings.
She was a gift to me from my friend Kristine.
She, so very thoughtfully, gave her to me years ago when my Mom was diagnosed with cancer.
The diagnosis was hard enough but to be in Australia while Mom was in Colorado ...
Even harder.
When I look at this angel now, I think of so many things.
I think of Kris.
I think of Mom and the miracle of her being cancer free.
I think of angels, which makes me think of heaven, which makes me think of God.
An of how thankful I am that He holds it all together ...
I think of these things, all of them, and I smile.

What makes you smile ??

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Sharing Treasures

Yesterday, my friend Toni and I went around to a bunch of Op Shops.
I found a few treasures ... want to see ?

I love finding little bits and pieces for my food photography ...



We also went to a local craft shop and found some neat yarn.
I can't wait to start a couple of new projects.
Speaking of yarn and projects ... have you heard of Ravelry ?
It is the neatest site for those of us who do stuff with yarn.
You have to send them an email to get an invite but it only takes a couple of days to hear back.
Then you can become a member and post what you're doing and save patterns and a whole bunch of stuff to your favorites !!



Go have a look !
And make sure you become my friend once you join !!
This is me.



Here's my most recent project ...
I call it a feather scarf.
Probably because Toni calls what I'm knitting with 'the feather stuff'.
ha



It's pretty.
So soft.
And it's been a really easy project.
I'm almost finished after only a couple hours of knitting.



Remember the other day, I mentioned that I had defrosted my freezer ?

Well, today ... as part of Sandra's Tips on Tuesday ... I'm going to show you how.
I'm sure you're thinking "I know how to defrost a freezer ... what could I possibly learn?"
But there is one tip in here, a little something I learned from a friend years ago that you need to know about !! Especially if you have an ancient fridge like us !!

I think our fridge is as old as me.
I was born in 1973.
The freezer ices up like nobody's business.
I usually defrost it when I can't shut the door anymore.

I'm serious.

I didn't think about doing a post about this until after I had started.
So, here's my freezer with some bits already scraped off ...
I use a metal spatula to get under the ice ... that's what you see on the right side of the photo.
Actually, I've just realized that photo is sideways.

Oh well.
Not gonna fix it.

Check out this chunk of ice !
I should consider running some sort of Australian Ice Age theme park.
I could totally outfit it with the ice this old thing produces !

So ... metal spatula in hand, I pull off chunks (big chunks!) of ice.
Then I use my little dust pan to pick it up and get it out of the freezer ...

And I fill a bucket ... a couple of times !!
Now ... here's the tip you've all been waiting for.
How to get the ice to come off so easily !
Like I said, a friend taught me this years ago ... a male friend, can you believe ?
It's true.

After you have gotten all the ice off of the inside of the freezer,
wipe it with a bit of dish washing liquid.
Yep, it's that easy.
It makes the ice come away so much easier ...

And there you have it ...
My freezer is clear of ice and lemony fresh !!

And that, my friends, is all for today !

Gotta go make dinner.
Gyoza
Udon Noodles
and I'm gonna bake some
Poppy Seed Muffins
too.

See ya !

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